Monthly Archives: March 2014

This summer, I volunteered for the JCC program, “The Gift of Literacy and the Gift of Math.” This nonprofit program goes on all year, and takes place in uptown public schools in New York City. Each volunteer is assigned a child from the age of 6 to the age of 9. I was assigned a 9-year-old boy named Gabriel Lopez to work with this summer. I had worked with him all last year with the same program every Wednesday afternoon for two hours. This summer, seeing as I knew Gabriel fairly well, I was assigned to tutor him in Math again from 9:00-10:30, and in Literacy from 10:30-12:00 every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for five weeks. Gabriel is a very smart kid, especially in mathematics, but he has a behavioral problem because of that talent. He found the math exercises unnecessary because he had already mastered them, and on top of this, he was being forced to do them during his summer break. His bad behavior was also a result of his insecurity about his verbal abilities. The struggle to get Gabriel to work with me and enjoy it was both tough and fascinating. When I was able to get him to focus, he did amazing work. Watching him understand new things and prosper was one of the most rewarding things I’ve every experienced.

I chose the quote, “For Friends the Testimony of equality begins with the belief that the Light is present in us all. All are deserving of respect, no matter what our differences. When we respect the Light in ourselves and others, we encourage all to turn inward for guidance and truth.” -Friends Seminary Faith and Practice Handbook. In my work with this young boy, I upheld this value of seeing ‘that of God’ in him. I saw the equal intellectual potential that he had, and how amazing it was to be able to help him exercise that potential. In the moments where he had trouble understanding or behaving, instead of judging him, I was patient with him and respected him. I was able to guide him to use his talents by pushing him not to look at the things that he couldn’t do yet, but instead, focus on all that he’s accomplished in the past. This kind of recognition of one’s own achievements helps one boost one’s confidence in future endeavors.

Here are some pictures of Gabriel and me. Here is the link to applying for the program: http://www.jccmanhattan.org/attach/Volunteer_Registration_Form.pdf

On Sunday, November 24, I participated in the God’s Love We Deliver race in Central Park with my mother and a few friends. This was the 20th annual race, where all proceeds go to benefit God’s Love We Deliver. God’s Love We Deliver is a New York charity which brings hot meals to those that are home bound. Each runner pays a joining fee, and can make an additional donation. You can also get other people to pledge money for your run towards the God’s Love charity. The run was four miles in Central Park and the temperature with wind chill it was expected to be 15°.
I was about to start the winter track season, so this was a great motivation. That morning my mother and bundled up in as many layers as it was possible to run in and went down to Central Park. There we got our numbers and clipped them to our jackets. From there we went to the starting line and the race began. It was so motivating to be surrounded by all of the other people, but it became hard to catch your breath at times because it was so cold. My goal was to run it in under fourth minutes and with the help of some great motivational friends who ran it with me, I did it in 37 minutes. It was really satisfying to run for a good cause and I know I will definitely be doing this event next year.